Portfolio Insights:“Principia remains committed to providing an exceptional educational experience for qualified students. In 2013–2014, the School and College gave $16.1 million in financial aid through scholarships and grants.

With a 2013–2014 fiscal year budget of $63.6 million, payments from students and their families covered just 21 percent of expenses. The endowment funded 65 percent of the budget. Contributions and other income made up the remaining 14 percent.” (Source)

1) Howard Berner assumed the newly created position of chief investment officer at Principia in 2009, following twelve years as Principia’s treasurer and chief financial officer. Principia is a Christian Science educational institution founded in 1898. It consists of the Principia School, a pre-school through high school in St. Louis, Missouri; and Principia College, a four-year liberal arts college located in Elsah, Illinois, on a national landmark campus.

Howard came to Principia following twenty-two years on active duty as an army intelligence officer. He served as an assistant professor at the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he taught economics and investment management, and later was deputy director for resource management at the Academy. Other assignments included duty as a liaison officer to the Soviet army in East Germany, service on the Pentagon Joint Staff, and other operational and financial management assignments in the United States and abroad. (Source)

2) Principia College is a private institution that was founded in 1910. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 480, its setting is rural, and the campus size is 2,600 acres. It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. Principia College’s ranking in the 2015 edition of Best Colleges is National Liberal Arts Colleges, 139. Its tuition and fees are $26,850 (2014-15). (Source)

3) Principia College has chosen an alumnus, Jonathan Palmer, as its new president. He will take his post at the school in Elsah, Ill., effective July 1.

Palmer currently is associate dean for academic affairs and a professor at the Mason School of Business at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va. Palmer graduated from Principia College in 1978; he received a doctorate from Claremont Graduate University in 1995.

He will succeed George Moffett, who served as college president for 11 years and resigned effective following the ’06-’07 school year. Tom Fuller is serving as interim dean of the college for the current academic year. (Source)

4) Principia College is a small, private liberal arts college located in Elsah, Illinois. The rural, 2,600-acre campus is a National Historic Landmark and overlooks the Mississippi River, just 30 miles from St. Louis, Missouri. Although the college is not affiliated with the Christian Science Church, its principles are significant to community life at Principia. From an academic perspective, the college has a 8 to 1 student faculty ratio and offers 28 undergraduate majors; the most popular among these include mass communication, art and business administration. Students are active on campus, participating in 43 student clubs and organizations, remarkable for the college’s small size. (Source)

5) Principia College receives its income from three different, but often interconnected sources: tuition, room, and board; donations; and income from Principia’s endowment. While the first two are obvious sources of income, Principia’s endowment deserves closer examination. The endowment is – in a way – Principia’s financial back-up. Mary Kimball Morgan, the founder of Principia, stressed the importance of establishing an endowment. Over the following decades, the endowment grew steadily, mainly based on donor contributions and gifts. (Source)

About Richard C. Wilson

INC 500

FAMILY OFFICE CLUB

The Family Office Club is the #1 largest membership-based community of family office professionals. With over 1,500 registered family offices we have more billionaire family offices, centimillionaire families, and single family office members than our top two competitors combined. Our industry leading website (FamilyOffices.com), a weekly podcast on iTunes, newsletter, webinars, quarterly events, and authored the bestselling book in the industry is what drives membership.